Pirate’s Plundarrr is a Wii game that put players in control of one of four different pirates, as they “plund-arr” their way through different pirate environments.  The game is really all about battling a constant stream of enemies and using your sword, axe, club or even guns to slash, hack, pound and shoot the bad guys.

The controls are relatively simple, asking you to hold the Wii-mote sideways, and using the d-pad to move around the screen, and the 1 and 2 buttons to jump and attack.  The b-trigger button can also be pressed to block your enemies attacks.  If you can figure out how to move your character on the screen and push the attack button, you should be able to hold your own.

Up to four players can play at a time, with everyone occupying the same screen and roaming around the environment attacking enemies, collecting coins and finding food to replenish their health bar.  The actual gameplay itself is mindless fun, especially when played with others.

The thing that really hindered our enjoyment of Pirate’s Plundarrr, though, was the complete lack of direction provided by the game.  While many games provide text-only commands with no voice over, Pirate’s Plundarrr also contains no tutorial and no explanation of what you need to do before thrusting you into the gameplay.   That makes the game difficult for gamers without much experience to enjoy.

If you can get past the game’s lack of tutorial, direction and violent nature, Pirate’s Plundarrr is actually a fun game, with an enjoyable cartoony style and high-level of artistic creativity.  Unfortunately, these factors combine to make a pretty narrow target audience – older kids and tweens looking for mindless pirate-themed fun.  If you have kids in those age ranges, and are more than a novice gamer, then Pirate’s Plundarr may provide your family with a few nights of hack and slash pillaging fun.  There’s a fun game to be had here, but you’ll need to figure a lot of things out for yourself in Pirate’s Plundarrr.

INFORMATION FROM COMPANY FACT SHEET

Ahoy Matey! In Pirates Plundarrr, plunder the land and the waters of the Caribbean as a pirate with up to 3 of yer’ best pirate mates in a swashbuckling fantasy-adventure! That scallywag Rudebelly has stolen yer’ treasure--an ancient artifact called the Sceptre of Power--and it’s yer’ job to get it back. The scepter will let a man call forth plenty o’ monsters, so be prepared to fight undead creatures, other monstrosities, and dangerous bosses that ye’ll find on yer’ journey to find Rudebelly and get your booty back!

Features
• Fight your way through a fantastic adventure with creature-filled areas including a murky swamp, an Aztec temple and a haunted village
• Share the excitement with up to 3 other friends in a party style 2D beat-em up!
• Find and use an arsenal of weapons, with 5 distinct weapon types and dozens of variations, each with different attacks and abilities
• Use the environment to your advantage – pick up and throw rocks and barrels to damage creatures – or just pick up your enemies and throw ‘em overboard!
• Fight up to 40+ unique enemies from skeletons to zombies and battle giant deadly bosses that will try to keep you from finding your treasure
• Gain XP points to earn perks and level up your characters with upgrades that will cause more damage to your enemies